With This Ring
by Ashton09
Summary: Based on a prompt: Aubrey, Beca, and Chloe pick out new soulmate bands to go with their new relationship. Same 'verse as "You Make us Better". Pure fluff


It takes Beca an embarrassingly long time to realize her girlfriends have stopped wearing their soulmate bands, considering how much time she spends around them over the summer. She hasn't _quite_ moved in, but at this point it's more of a technicality than anything else, considering her other living situation is with her father to avoid moving her stuff too far over summer break.

She even spends half the nights she spends over in the guest room, still wary of intruding on what the other two have built in the years they've been together, no matter how many times they both assure her that she's not intruding on anything. "It's not just the two of us anymore" Chloe will say, leaning in the doorway of the spare room as Beca changes. "It's all three of us, and we love having you in with us."

And Beca knows that, believes them when they tell her. She just doesn't always trust herself, and wants to respect the fact that they've been with each other for years, while she's been with them for just over a month and a half now. They deserve some time to just themselves, and she's still hesitant to jump all the way in after the rocky start they'd faced. She's mostly gotten over her fears about soulmates just causing pain, but she knows relationships take time and work, and she wants to do this right.

So given that she's put so much effort into the relationship and being good enough for them, the fact that such an obvious and serious change went unnoticed for almost a month makes Beca feel almost ashamed of herself.

"Oh yeah, we took them off just before graduation" Chloe says with a shrug when Beca brings it up. And Beca can tell that her girlfriend is trying to play it off as not a big deal, but there's a set to her shoulders that tells even Beca that there's more to the story. Still, if Chloe wants to act casual about it, then Beca won't push her by calling on it.

"Oh, okay" is all she says instead, trying to match her girlfriend's nonchalance. She's not sure Chloe's fooled, but the conversation drops anyway as Beca turns back to her mixing and Chloe turns back to whatever she's doing on her laptop while they wait for Aubrey to get home.

Beca debates sleeping in the guest room when they all start preparing for bed, but doesn't want to seem like she's avoiding the two after the awkward moment with Chloe earlier. She's not, has no desire to avoid either of them, but she is kicking herself a little for being so stupidly oblivious to such a major thing for so long.

She knows Chloe wasn't fooled earlier when her girlfriends arrange themselves around her, settling Beca between them in what's usually Chloe's spot. "Do you want to talk about it?" Aubrey asks when they've been lying there long enough to relax into each other.

"I just don't like that I didn't notice" Beca says after gathering her thoughts. "And I really don't get why you two stopped, but that's between the two of you, so I really don't need to know." Beca probably would have rambled on for another few minutes given the chance, but both of her soulmates move closer to her at that, each embracing her tightly and surprising her into silence.

"That's why we stopped wearing the" Chloe says when they move back a little, still tucked into Beca's sides, but no longer squeezing the breath out of her. "Because the three of us are in this together, and you aren't at that point, so none of us are. We'll get new soulmate bancs when we're all ready for them, but when it was just Aubrey and I wearing them, that left you out and that wasn't okay."

"I didn't want to get in the way" Beca explains in a small voice, feeling guilty for causing them to give up something she knows was important to them. "You shouldn't have to stop wearing them because of me."

"Do you ever actually listen to us?" Aubrey asks with a touch of exasperation, leaning up to place a kiss on Beca's cheek to soften any sting from the words. "Chloe and I haven't changed where we stand with each other, but we're all equals in this relationship. It isn't her and I, and then you added on. And those bands, that's what they were, and they put you on the outside. Especially with the two of us graduating, we wanted to make sure you knew it didn't mean we were leaving you behind. We both love you, and when all three of us are ready, then all three of us will get new bands, but we're not wearing them without you."

"And you haven't come between us, Beca" Chloe chimes in as soon as Aubrey finishes. "You haven't, you won't, and you can't. Because you're with us, and none of us is between the other." When Chloe finishes she kisses Beca's cheek as well before laying her head on Beca's shoulder and cuddling solidly inter her side as if to emphasize her point.

"Well now I feel bad for holding you two back" Beca says, trying to play it off as a joke, despite half feeling it's the truth.

"Beca, you won't even sleep in our bed half the time" Aubrey says with a sigh, obviously not fooled. "And that's okay, that doesn't mean you're holding us back. It means we're all working towards being more comfortable with all of us together. Equal partners, remember"

Beca just nods, not wholly convinced, but at least reassured that she's not causing issues just by being there. And she'll work on the comfort thing.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It takes longer than all three of them would like to get to that point in their relationship; Beca has already started school by the time it comes up again. She's officially moved in with her girlfriends now, all three of them moving when the two older women's lease ends.

Aubrey's solid job at a company owned by a friend of her father's lets them easily afford a nice apartment close to campus, though Beca and Chloe had both tried to protest so much of the financial burden falling on Aubrey. But the blonde had been adamant, dividing up the expenses proportionally and eventually convincing the other two that it's the best way to go.

But when the subject of soulmate bands comes up again, it's Beca's turn to be stubborn, insisting that this one be an equal split, none of them putting in more money than the other two. "I don't care if that means we spend fifty cents at a machine, but this represents all three of us together as equals, so that's how we're going to do it. Equal or not at all."

Aubrey is the one who tries to argue this time, though not for very long. She'd wanted the best for the three of them, and while Beca agrees with the idea, she still insists that the cost be split evenly. The brunette's clear dedication to the idea, and by extension their relationship, wins the blonde over quickly, and the reasoning does make sense.

Chloe of course is swept up in the romantic nature of the whole thing, and would have been happy either way. She doesn't need a beautiful ring to know she loves her soulmates, but she wouldn't argue with one either. Then at the same time, Beca's insistence that they all act as equals in this is such a turnaround from where they were a few months ago, and such a romantic idea in the redhead's mind, that she immediately loves the idea.

Once they finally all agree to split the cost evenly, they each agree to wait a month to give Beca and Chloe time to save up a little extra money. They'd discussed waiting longer, but now that Beca is willing to wear a soulmate band with them, she doesn't want to wait any longer than she has to. She'd been serious about getting a plastic ring from a machine and being happy with it, she just wants to have something tangible with her each day while she's away from them.

Still, she wants it to be special for both of them, and even with the internship at the radio station, Beca doesn't have a lot of spare money to save in the space of a month. The Bellas offered their help, but Beca knows they're all just as broke as she is, and refuses to take money from them. She still ends up with almost two hundred dollars in her bag after a practice, with no way to sort who gave what to return it, and the gesture leaves her feeling grateful that she has these women in her life, even if they don't listen to a thing she says.

Still, four hundred dollars between the Bella's contribution and what she's able to save isn't all that much, and she knows Chloe will have an easier time saving more with her music lessons taking off as the school year picks up. Not wanting to be the one to let her soulmates down when they go to look at rings, Beca again visits her father to get his help. Not that she phrases it that way, even to herself. She's just collecting on a lot of missed allowances, that's all.

She blames Aubrey for it, later. Because Beca understands how the blonde feels, wanting to give her soulmates the best rings possible, not to prove she can but because they deserve to have something beautiful and amazing.

When they get to the jewelry store, Beca's head starts to spin at all the different options. Even with the money from the Bellas and her father, some of the rings are so wildly expensive that she wonders how anyone could ever afford such a thing. And some are so gaudy that she can't imagine anyone ever actually wearing them.

Then again, she never saw herself wearing a soulmate band, so she supposes nothing is impossible.

Most of the styles don't fit for one reason or another, each woman having different styles and ideas in mind as they browse. Beca doesn't want anything too over the top, Aubrey doesn't want anything too simple or unprofessional, and Chloe wants the ring that captures all three of them in one band. They can tell the gentleman helping them is a little confused to have three women looking for a soulmate set, but he's unfailingly polite, so Beca and Aubrey both manage to keep from snapping at him as they browse.

"What if we avoid stones" Beca finally says, after they've looked at what seems like dozens of rings. "Most of these are just too 'hey look at me' for me to feel comfortable with" she admits with a little hesitation, having seen how Chloe looked at a few of them.

"We have some stacked metal bands" the attendant says, overhearing Beca's statement and pointing across the room to a smaller display they haven't looked at yet. "There are quite a few styles, from simple metal bands to elaborately braided, with stones and without. If these more traditional styles aren't meeting your expectations."

With a quick look and shrug, Beca follows her soulmates over to the indicated table, looking down into the display to see rings that are a lot more her style, nowhere near as overwhelming as some of the other rings they've seen have been. Still, she can't expect the other two women to be stuck with a ring matching her admittedly limited idea of acceptable fashion, so she discounts the plain metal bands immediately.

Still, some of the braided styles are intricate enough to remind her of her soulmates, while still simple enough to suit her desire for simplicity. Those are the ones she thinks fit them the best, matching the way the three of them blend their different personalities together into one relationship, each balancing the others out.

"What about those?" Beca says as she thinks all that, pointing at the bands that have caught her eye, smiling at the way her soulmates' faces light up when they see what she's looking at.

"Beca, those are perfect" Chloe says, giving her a quick kiss before calling the attendant over so they can get a closer look.

"Can we pick different metals for the three bands?" Aubrey asks as Chloe examines the different styles, starting a conversation with the attendant about specialized orders and what some of the benefits and drawbacks are. Beca just shakes her head as she watches, of course Aubrey would go ring shopping and get caught up in a logistics discussion.

"So you like these?" she asks Chloe as Aubrey keeps talking about fulfillment times and production costs next to them.

"I really do, Beca. The three metals all braided together, that's perfect. And it sounds like Aubrey wants to pick metals to match the three of us, which is even more perfect. It'll be like the three of us in ring form, all a part of a whole, never separate or divided." Beca smiles as Chloe goes on, still listening to the words, but focused more on the joy on her soulmate's face as she takes in each of the rings, running gentle fingers over the bands in front of them.

"We have some options" Aubrey says when she finishes discussing things with the attendant, turning to face her girlfriends as the gentleman walks away to give them some privacy while they talk it over. "They've got some new methods of coloring metal, so we can get shades that match our eyes, or our favorite colors, or our hair colors, or any other colors we want."

"Hair color" Beca says, looking at the blonde with a smile. "I'm sure there are some natural metallic tones that match them closely enough, and then we're not walking around with Chloe's favorite bright pink on our hands all the time"

"Hey now" Chloe protests, before thinking about it for a minute. "Okay, that was mean but true. And if they're more natural looking, then they'll be more professional for you, Aubrey."

"The other thing he mentioned would be incorporating small stones into the braid where the strands overlap, either all the way around or just three spaced however we want, either equidistant or right together" Aubrey continues as Beca gives Chloe a small hug to apologize for the comment, smiling at the two of them as she does.

"But Beca didn't like the stones" Chloe says immediately, turning to look at the brunette for confirmation.

"It's not that I didn't like them, Chloe" Beca tries to explain. "It's just that they were all so much different than my normal style, I didn't think I'd be comfortable wearing them. But what Aubrey's describing sounds a little more low-key, and depending on how it looks I think I'd be fine with that. I mean, if the metals are going to be our hair color, then why not go with stones to match our eyes?"

"I think from what the attendant described, you'll be fine with the stones" Aubrey says, reaching out to grab Beca's hand. "They'd be set mostly even with the metal, not raised in a separate setting like the others were. And I love the idea of matching eye colors. The two of you both have such beautiful eyes."

"Okay, I know we're shopping for soulmate bands, but you can keep the cheesiness to yourself, Aubrey. That's Chloe's department" Beca jokes, earning a smack from each of her soulmates for the quip. "Hey now, I'm just joking!" she defends, rubbing her arms where the light blows had landed.

In the end they settle on their designs, Beca glad to see that the money from her father is more than enough to cover her share, meaning she can pay the Bellas back at the next rehearsal. She's also happy when her girlfriends don't seem surprised at the money, not asking how she'd managed to save so much in a month. She'll tell them where it came from eventually, but the middle of a jewelry store isn't the place for the discussion.

The only downside of designing the rings is waiting for them to be made, and Beca finds herself unusually impatient waiting for them to arrive. Still, she doesn't want them to make a mistake, so as the days stretch on, she forces herself to be relieved that whoever is making them isn't rushing and potentially ruining them.

When they finally arrive, Beca notices that all three of them have shaking hands as they open the boxes to look, hears each of them gasp as they take in the sight of the rings in front of them. Hers is perfect, and as Beca glances at the two in her soulmates' hands, the two they're holding look just as amazing.

They're not identical the way Aubrey and Chloe's original bands had been, the stones are arranged differently for each of them, their own eye color in the center of the arrangement and flanked by their soulmates, but they're clearly a matching set, and Beca has to remind herself that this is real, that she's happily committed to the women next to her. It all seems like a dream, and if it weren't for the fact that this was never Beca's dream, she might have assumed that's all it is.

After some fumbling trying to get rings out and situated, they finally get things arranged and figure out how to have two of them slide a ring onto the waiting finger, tears in each of their eyes as the rings slide home.

Even if the rings don't matter, don't change their feelings or make the relationship more real, there's just something about the moment that Beca knows will stick with her for the rest of her life. She's not sure there can ever be a moment better than this, than the pure love surrounding them as they hold each other close.


End file.
